F1 vs Soccer in America--a comparison

Kids will do what their parents do or expose them to. We started our son at an early age in soccer. I did not want him in Football.
If parents watch and follow F1 the kids will too.
Bernies complete lack of respect for the US, and North American in general, F1 audience will ensure yet another generation of Nascar fans.

As far as being a world power in soccer; we will be when kids at a park would rather kick a soccer ball instead of throwing a football. Its coming.

 

f1 needs to setup shop in NY and let it grow from there. the tristate area has a lot of europeans to feed the fan base. so stupid trying to market it to the hillbillys in indiana

 

"Soccer" will always be 3-4 in the line behind Baseball, American Football, and Basketball etc.

Formula 1 will always be 2-3 in line behind NASCAR, Indy series and the ALMS etc.

Beckham tried to improve the knowledge of "soccer" in the US by signing for LA Galaxy, but was stupid enough to think that it would happen in the time that his contract would expire (5 years). Then he could go back to playing in a better league a hell of alot richer for the BIG pay check he got for playing in the US ($250Million for a 5 year contract). It was never going to work like he wanted it to.

He was booted out of Manchester United (literally) when the manager thought he was getting to big for his boots. His contract ran out a Madrid, and now the England Manger has said if he wants to play for his country again then he should go to a better league.

Formula 1 - Schumacher once said in an interview on CBS that people who can not survive in Formula 1 go to Indy, people coming from Indy hardly survive in Formula 1.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I0OmnaC7_6c Link to the last part of that interview, talks about indy from about 2 minutes 50.

The point i'm making is, there are always going to be bigger sports than both of these in the US. Where as in Europe Football at least IS the biggest sport, and more and more people are becoming aware of Formula 1.








P.S. Those British accented coaches probably had a british accent because they were lol.

 

Being a naturalized American citizen and having been born in Europe- I have a little insight here.

I feel Americans in general are more affluent than most Europeans. Many European countires are quite poor -mine is- and so participation in youth sports is limited to very low cost activities. All you really need for soccer is a ball and an open area.

Not to gross anyone out but where I grew up- even a ball was a luxury and we kids would wait with great anticipation for the seasonal harvest and meat perperation when a pigs bladder would serve as soccer ball, at least for a while. I tell some of my freinds stories about my youth and you should see the looks I get. Basically - there were cheap sports you could participate in -and expensive sports that were only for the rich- and we could only watch. Nothing in between.

When we emmigrated to the states- things were quite different. I had a few freinds that played ice hockey and 25-30 years ago- the cost of that sport seemed so extravagent that my parents were in disbelief that people actually paid that for recreation versus lifes necessities.

I quickly noticed there was a huge diffence in how my family lived when compared with my American freinds. We were terrfied of debt and preferred to wait for even modest things, while most of my freinds grew up with what seemed like instant and abundant- everything. Nothing was beyond aspiring to. We still had a sense of limits.

Taking that to motor sports... the US probably has a deeper history of mass participation in some form of motor sports than most of Europe. Europe does have karting but I imagine that's a relativley new thing (a few decades?) and even then limited to more affluent areas and people. I would bet today that more Europeans feel Karting is out of the masses reach more so than americans felt some sort of motor sports was available to them even 2 decades ago.

I would think that because of this- Americans have much more diversity of choice in all areas of sports- and this segments interest in motor sports between NASCAR, NHRA, IRL, IMSA, SCCA, F1 and others - heck, I think the only reason we're into soccer now is becuase the rest of world has been so competitive in it for so long, that we needed prove we could be too... and we have.

I'm not sure that the US, with so many choices, will ever have the apparent focus or reverence to any single activity that some other nations do (save baseball)... and I'm not sure thats a bad thing.

 

I think soccer popularity is due to more ethnic diversity in the US. It's also an affordable sport for kids to play so it would make sense that many of these same kids and their parents watch professional soccer. For the die hard US sports fan the sport probably does not hold their attention long enough.

F1 will always fight and lose out to any current US racing over here. It's thought of as that "European racing" series. With the way F1 has stumbled over here I don't see this changing any time soon if ever.

 

Soccer is moving up rapidly. Kids are joining teams more and staying longer in soccer than baseball, football, and basketball. They will carry forward that experience as they age and in turn have kids.
It is not uncommon here in Texas to see tournaments with hundreds of teams from all over Texas and other states. I cannot recall seeing the same thing ever in football at that age. Baseball and basketball the same.

When I was in High School there was not even a soccer program. A friend of mine tried to start one with little interest from others.
My son just graduated from HS and the level of competition on his soccer team was pretty amazing. There was not a pound of fat divided throughout the team.
That said one of the forwards was recruited to place kick in College Football and offered a full ride there. I know of half a dozen kids that received full rides for college soccer in the DFW metroplex which is either the first or second most competitive metropolitan area in the US as far as soccer.
Title 9 is killing mens college soccer. What a shame.

A portion per Wikipedia;;
[Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, now known as the Patsy T. Mink Equal Opportunity in Education Act in honor of its principal author, but more commonly known simply as Title IX, is a United States law enacted on June 23, 1972 that states: "No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance."[1]

Although the most prominent "public face" of Title IX is its impact on high school and collegiate athletics, the original statute made no reference to athletics.[2]......

With respect to athletic programs, the Dept. of Education evaluates the following factors in determining whether equal treatment exists:[7]

(1) Whether the selection of sports and levels of competition effectively accommodate the interests and abilities of members of both sexes; (2) The provision of equipment and supplies; (3) Scheduling of games and practice time; (4) Travel and per diem allowance; (5) Opportunity to receive coaching and academic tutoring on mathematics only; (6) Assignment and compensation of coaches and tutors; (7) Provision of locker rooms, practice and competitive facilities; (8) Provision of medical and training facilities and services; (9) Provision of housing and dining facilities and services; (10) Publicity. Unequal aggregate expenditures for members of each sex or unequal expenditures for male and female teams if a recipient operates or sponsors separate teams will not constitute noncompliance with this section, but the Assistant Secretary [of Education for Civil Rights] may consider the failure to provide necessary funds for teams for one sex in assessing equality of opportunity for members of each sex.]


The coaches are coming from all over, US citizens included.
British, Brazilian, Etc coaches have an edge because if the coach comes from overseas he/she must be an expert, Right ?

 

Yes absoutely. Sorry, what i meant to say was Beckham wanted us all to believe that he was going it for all the right reasons. Mean while all he and his wife saw were green Dollar signs.

 

Wow, maybe that means that Baseball will be the next big thing to come over here lol.

Hahaha if that were true every kid that joined a team would become a proffesional, and be rich therefore everybody would do it if it meant they become a millionaire when still in their early 20's. I know i would. Unfortunately as the saying goes "you are only as good as your weakest link" so the coach can only be as good as your natural talent, and if you don't have that talent you ain't gonna get anywhere.

 

F1 is different from most other sports because countries that have F1 races generally have only one a year and maybe have about 100,000 people go to see it (if it's really popular in that country!). Compare that with football (soccer); in Britain, and most other western European countries, just two top flight games will attract that number of fans every weekend for nine months of the year. There are many hundreds of football matches attracting many hundreds of thousands every Saturday. I'd guess that more people go to watch football in Britain in one weekend than go to an entire season's F1 races.

F1 is not and will never be a big 'live' spectator sport, it relies on television audiences and since those audiences will watch races pretty much wherever they are held it doesn't matter if they move around.

 

I think F1 could really make it in the states but it has to have a proper venue. Indy just was not a good track to host a race. Whether its a proper track or a street circuit it really has be developed in a more serious manner. Living in Jersey I would love to see a race in Manhattan but I can't even begin to imagine the logistics of that.

I do wonder what may have been if we had kept a long standing prestigious F1 race. We may today be better off, but I feel like motor sports in America like many other things, tend to follow what is "In" or what is currently being marketed. America forgot about open wheel racing after the split into IRL and CART. The split turned a lot of people off which is the danger F1 has been running this year will all the talk thats floating around.

Nascar came in and filled the racing itch, they marketed it properly, and tickets are cheap.

I am an avid F1 fan and will gladly pay ticket prices for an annual race but I have also seen a few NASCAR races down in Charlotte for 35 bucks a ticket. At that price its an easy sell to any new comers that might like to see a race. At the opposite end of the spectrum I have also been to the European GP at Nurburgring and a 3 day pass was close to 150 euro. Price is fine with me but it was a tough sell to my sister and brother in-law.

I hope F1 gains some fans in the coming years here in the states much like soccer has, but I don't know if it will ever be as large as other sports.

 

Soccer has grown tremendously since i moved here over 30 years ago. Then as a kid it was hard to find anyone to play with. I joke that my skills peaked at age 11 when i moved here from England!
Now i coach my daughters team. At her young age it is easily the most popular team sport there is. Still though i believe the 2 things that have helped it grow here are the influx of people who emigrated here and cable TV. You need something to fill all those channels!!

F1 will have a much harder time.

 

I dont remember where I heard it from but it has been said Soccer ( football ) is one of the few sports where the players on the field make the decisions, not a coach sending in plays.
The players have more mental involvement.

 

Ha, I said that in one of my rants about soccer vs american football. (If you meant you heard it here on Fchat). It is true though, you play as a team but no one is telling you how to play like a team. Every move is a "play" and you know your players and where to go next to help them out, so you don't have someone telling you what to do...you learn that in practice.
About Beck, he is a disgrace to soccer and I hate how american tv makes him out to be a god. Anyone who has played soccer for more than a year can curve a soccer ball. I played for 12 years and I could curve the sh*t out of a ball. The guys sucks. LOL sorry I despise him.

I believe F1 is growing here but it will take a lot to make it in the US. Some of my friends can't get into it(or other racing) because there is not much happening, much like in soccer to them. Maybe if they had a US team or driver to cheer for they could slowly get into it and appreciate what they do and begin to like it. I don't know, I wish it would come back to the states but no one will pay for it so I guess I'll have to keep recording it or staying up till 2am to watch it live.

 

Interesting, but south Florida would be an much better location from a marketing standpoint.

 

That sounds like a reasonable analogy. Taking it one step further though, 'fans' of top bands love their CDs and videos but the vast majority of those who buy them never go to a live performance and couldn't care less where they have their gigs. And so it is with F1.

 

A couple of observations: 1) football and F1 require patience and an ability to appreciate subtlety....so it's obvious why they don't do particularly well in the US. 2) why don't we call 'soccer' football here?, surely it deserves to be called by it's proper name as players use the foot exclusively....unlike American 'football', where they hardly ever use the foot...???

 

Thank You.... i've always thought that myself!!

 

NFL players are lucky to get 5 years in the league, much of it injured thanks to the wear and tear of college ball. As the salaries go higher in soccer more young athletes are going to take note of the comparative career longevity soccer affords them.

 

I go to see lots of bands, I'am also a musician/writer/producer.

Ages ago I vowed never to go to a gig seeing even my most favourite bands if they did a stadium gig..it's crap IMO the band look like ants on stage if your at the back you might as well be on the moon listening to an old radio IMHO.

So no its not always better live.